Mr Neil Cox, Chair of the Maidstone Taxi Association, addressed the Committee.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report and stated that the Taxi trade had requested that the test be amended to increase the likelihood of passing the test and the number of qualified drivers within the trade. The new test format was introduced in 2017 with amendments made in 2018, although the pass rate had not increased as a result.

Following three unsuccessful test attempts, applicants had to wait for six months before they could re-attempt the test. The majority of candidates consistently failed on the routes and streets sections, with the private hire taxi trade having previously commented that the section was not necessary as private hires were booked in advance. This allowed drivers to look up the route before collecting passengers.

It was confirmed that the criteria for the testing and checking of applicants, as agreed by the Committee in 2016, was not under review and licensing drivers on a probationary basis would not be considered.

In response to questions, the Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that the proposed amendments would be applied to private hire applicants only. If any complaints were received regarding the standard of driving following an amendment to the test, the test would be reviewed before the suggested six-month period. The Committee could decide to adjust the pass rates for any of the sections within the knowledge test.

It was felt that the pass mark for the highway code section of the test be increased to match the Driving Theory Test pass mark of 86%. To facilitate this, the questions within the section would need to be increased to ten.

RESOLVED: That

1.  The pass rate for the highway code section of the knowledge test, for private hire applicants only, be increased to 90% with the number of questions in that section be increased to 10; and

2.  The Routes and Street element of the rest for private hire applicants only be removed for a period of 6 months.

Note: Councillor Fissenden joined the meeting during this item’s consideration, at 7.06 p.m.